Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 6706066" data-attributes="member: 177">Gentlemen, I'm sorry, but you are guilty of a logical fallacy - the "tone argument" (also known as "tone policing") in which a position is dismissed based on its presentation.  It is a variant of the more formal "Appeal to Emotion".<a href="http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Tone_argument" target="_blank">http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Tone_argument</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion" target="_blank">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_emotion</a>The logical content of the idea is *separate* from how it is used.  You can't dismiss the concept of cultural appropriation because it is used as a bludgeon, any more than you can outlaw kitchen knives because they occasionally cut people - veggies still need to be chopped, and all.  Quite simply - the fact that it is used to make you feel bad does not mean it is inaccurate or incorrect!  In a very basic way, if you (meaning dominant culture, not you personally) have been walking roughshod over others, the defense, "But you should be *nice* to me!" carries darned little weight.  You (we, really) get bludgeoned in large part because we are responsible* for making things better, and are generally falling down on the job.  Now, we can have a discussion of tone, in terms of what strategies are best for reaching an audience.  I made some comments to just that early in the thread, in my feedback to Grumpy.  However, that doesn't touch the basic validity (or lack thereof) of the position.  To conflate them is basically saying, 'I don't think we should talk about that topic, as it makes me uncomfortable."  As I noted before - there *will* be unpleasant feelings here.  This is hard, and a big humble pill we need to swallow.  But the side effects to us are not the central issue.*In saying this, I note the difference between being "responsible" and being "accountable".  We, as individuals, may be largely innocent of the major sins, but it falls in our laps to help make things better, regardless.</blockquote>

Verification